


BiNary Stars

by Ace of Jokers (AceOfJokers)



Series: Partnered Stars [3]
Category: Super Sentai Series, 宇宙戦隊キュウレンジャー | Uchu Sentai Kyuranger
Genre: (would you expect anything else from me tbh), Implied Lucky/Garu/Stinger, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 14:36:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13836819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOfJokers/pseuds/Ace%20of%20Jokers
Summary: “Oh! You two should get married!”The BN Thieves stared at each other for a moment, blinking slowly.“Aren’t we already married in, uh… three systems?” Balance questioned, tapping the side of his faceplate thoughtfully.“Four,” Naga corrected, without missing a beat. “Berenice.”[AKA: In which Raptor is a wedding-planning monster, Balance has a few issues to work out, and Jark Matter's still a bunch of jerks, but in the end, it's perfect enough.]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> FINALLY, IT IS COMPLETE. Thank you to C-Chan and my partner, for being very patient with my random snippets of "LOOK WHAT THESE CHARACTERS ARE MAKING ME WRITE." 
> 
> Obviously, this takes place before the two-year timeskip in the finale. It sort of follows after my other works, but I don't think you _particularly_ need to have read them, so...
> 
> Have fun, my darlings.

Balance sighed, and Naga followed suit, as they both looked around the relatively-empty bridge.

“Man, not that I didn’t miss our BN Thieves gig, but it’s gonna feel weird not being _here_ anymore, y’know?” Balance complained, and Naga nodded, solemnly.

The universe was safe now, or at least saf _er_ , and the Kyurangers were more or less breaking up. It’d still be a few weeks before those not sticking to working for the Rebellion left, most likely, but the bridge was somehow feeling empty and lonely already. It’d probably be _really_ sad when those weeks were up, all this space for so few people…

“You could always just stay!” a hopeful voice chimed in, and they both turned to stare skeptically at the sad little android standing across the room by the jukebox, toying with her datapad.

“Raptor, you’re not gonna win that argument,” Hammy scoffed, but there was a gentleness to the way she patted her friend’s shoulder. “Those two lovebirds have treasure to find, you can’t compete with that.”

“Hey! You said you wouldn’t _tell_ anyone that we’re –” Balance protested, stomping over with Naga trailing slightly behind him – but he paused as he got there, shoulders slumping. “Aw, heck, we’re gonna be gone soon anyway. Fine, tell whoever you like…”

Hammy nodded smugly, as Raptor’s mood entirely swung around into wide-eyed enthusiasm. "Wait – you two really are – _really?!"_

“Yup, we’re ‘really’,” Balance laughed, looking a little awkward, but he seemed genuinely happy as he threw an arm around Naga’s waist. “It’s been fun watching you all try an’ _guess,_ though. How long’s it been, anyway?”

He looked up at Naga, who shrugged. “Depends. Do we start at when I told you I loved you, or do we start at the time you showed me –”

“– The first one,” Balance quickly cut him off, with another nervous laugh.

“Then since just after we nearly flew into the sun,” Naga nodded, easily going along with not finishing his first thought.

_“That long?!_ Wait, no, _only_ that long?!” Raptor sputtered, looking between everybody with a hyperactive sort of bafflement, “And, and – _you_ knew for sure! And you didn’t tell me?!”

Hammy raised her hands defensively against Raptor’s loud mix of disappointment and anger. “Hey, I got sworn to secrecy, okay? Blame them, not me.”

“Hey!”

“Ugh, I suppose…” Raptor recovered quickly, though, her eyes practically glittering as she turned back towards Balance and Naga. “Oh! You two should get married!”

The BN Thieves stared at each other for a moment, blinking slowly.

“Aren’t we already married in, uh… three systems?” Balance questioned, tapping the side of his faceplate thoughtfully.

“Four,” Naga corrected, without missing a beat. “Berenice.”

Balance nodded back, his posture brightening up excitedly. _“Ooh,_ right! Now there’s a place that knows how to throw a killer wedding party. We got _so_ much crazy loot…”

“You two got married for the _wedding presents?"_ Hammy cut in just then, laughing hysterically over the horrified little squeaks that Raptor was making. _"Oh my god of course you did._ That’s hilarious!”

“That’s – you can’t just –” Raptor sputtered incoherently for a moment, as Balance pointed and winked jauntily at Hammy. “Weddings are an important social contract for stabilizing societies! Also they’re romantic!”

Hammy rolled her eyes, but Naga’s head tilted curiously. “They are?”

“Yes!” Raptor’s hands were on her hips now, rounding on Balance furiously. “What have you been teaching him, anyway?!”

Balance leaned back, his voice sheepish when he answered. “About weddings? Uh, nothing…?”

“Are weddings not for receiving gifts?” Naga questioned, finding a place to reenter the conversation while Balance trailed off into nervous silence, starting to edge behind his partner with tiny movements.

“No, not at all! – Well, I mean, that happens, but!” Raptor sputtered again, but quickly recovered, grabbing onto Naga’s hands enthusiastically as she explained. “It’s _supposed_ to be a statement of love and commitment! A promise to spend _forever_ with the person you love!” (Hammy pulled a face, at that, but said nothing.)

“Oh,” was Naga’s simple response, before he turned back towards Balance. “I’d like to do that, then.”

Balance went _silent_ _,_ a rare and astonishing moment of total speechlessness from him that went on just a little longer than expected, before – an alarm abruptly went off, startling all of them.

“Aw, jeez, that’s my Voyager,” Balance recovered first, picking up a datapad off the table and sounding so completely annoyed that Raptor ended up nodding sympathetically. “I tried to set up an auto-clean thingy, but _that_ racket means somethin’ has gone wrong. Be right backsies, ’kay?”

And he darted out the doors almost before anyone could say anything else. There was silence for a moment, as everyone took in the situation. Then Raptor folded her arms, muttering imprecations against all Voyagers, but Hammy – frowned thoughtfully at Naga.

“You look a little upset?” She half-stated, half-asked, obviously uncertain in reading the Ophiuchian’s expressions (most of them were).

Naga nodded slightly, shrugged even moreso. “He hacked the alert systems to throw up an alarm,” he said, very quietly, silver eyes focused on the now-shut doors. “I’ve seen him do it before. For us to escape. I guess… he doesn’t want a wedding.”

He fell into silence after that flat statement, having evidently shared all he felt was necessary. Raptor and Hammy stared at him, swapped startled glances, and then huddled together to whisper furiously.

“You’re better at dealing with Naga –” Raptor began, with a nervous glance towards the least-readable member of their crew, who was still staring at the doors.

Hammy shook her head wildly. “What?! No, no, I screwed it all up that one time!” she hissed, panic rising in her eyes.

Raptor waved her hands in a shushing motion, with another nervous glance. "Only once out of three! Those are good odds! You’ve got a _rapport!"_

“Well, you won’t be able to handle Balance,” Hammy shot back. “You can’t just be _polite_ with that idiot. You gotta yell at him. I'm good at yelling.”

“I- I can yell!” Raptor sputtered indignantly – adding, in the face of Hammy’s doubtful stare: “I’ll just pretend he’s the Commander!”

Hammy sighed, her doubtful stare not abating in the least.

“And I’ll help you figure out where to start with getting a teaching license,” Raptor added, very quiet, after a desperately-thoughtful pause. _“I’m_ good at navigating bureaucracy.”

"… Ugh. _Fine."_

“Yay! Thanks, Hammy!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

 

* * *

 

 

“You’re really good at hacking systems, you know that?”

Balance yelped, nearly falling off the arm of his Voyager – and experiencing a weird sort of deja vu over the whole thing. He probably shouldn’tve _actually_ run in here to hide, being as it was the place he’d said he was going to, but… it had sold the story. Sort of.

Well, at least Raptor wasn’t a huge threat, when it came to being chewed out. Unless you were the Commander. Or sometimes Hammy. Or if you interrupted one of her presentations. Or weren’t paying attention to her debriefings. Wait, what had she said again? Something about him being good at hacking?

“I _may_ have heard such mentioned, once or twice,” he chuckled, with over-the-top false elegance. Probably too much, but he had to make up for nearly falling off his own Voyager _somehow._ “Why?”

“Because even _I_ could barely tell you’d created a false alarm,” Raptor called back up at him, and he felt a horrible sinking sensation as the implications set in. “If Naga hadn’t said – look, could you get down here, please? This is really awkward!”

“It won’t be any less awkward down there,” Balance protested, though he was already climbing down the side of his Voyager. He knew a losing battle when he saw it.

He had been right: it was exactly as awkward to be standing on the ground, waiting for Raptor to get back to whatever subject she’d been getting a run-up towards. (Okay, yes, he knew what it was; but denial was an old friend.) Feeling sorely tempted to just try and yank the subject-ball away into his own court, too, but for once his brain was drawing a blank…

“Why don’t you want to marry Naga?” Raptor suddenly blurted out, too-fast, as if she’d been trying to figure out a more tactful turn of conversation and just given up on it.

Regardless, it startled Balance into a – semi-honest answer, anyway. “What? Who says I don’t?!”

“The fact you just ran away, for one!” Raptor’s hands were on her hips now, a gesture so reminiscent of Hammy that Balance almost laughed. “Honestly, have some dignity!”

“Dignity is overrated,” Balance shot back automatically, as his brain struggled to find a way out of this conversation without just physically booking it. Again. (Also – dignity? Really? Actually, hadn’t she been yelling at the Commander about that just last week…? Wow, so he rated _reruns_ with her. Sad.) “Anyway, I wasn’t running away –”

“You _faked an alarm,_ Balance,” Raptor cut him off, having none of such an obvious lie, her optics surprisingly glaring. Sh-sheesh, where’d this extra-angry Raptor come from? He wasn’t the one supposed to be having to deal with this! “Look… I’m sorry I was, um, kind of pressuring you, a bit.” Oh, _there_ was the usual Raptor again, phew. “But if you don’t want to, you should tell Naga why. I think he might be a bit hurt… maybe?”

Okay, _that_ was just cheating. Especially because it was probably true; he’d caught the hint of recognition glancing across Naga’s expression shortly after he’d triggered the alarm. He hadn’t wanted to hurt him, of _course_ he never wanted that, but… In that exact second, getting out of there had seemed like the only option. He couldn’t say he didn’t feel guilty about that; it was gripping his internals tightly.

“Look, it’s not that _I_ wouldn’t want to, it’s just –” Balance shook his head, running into too many mental roadblocks and dead-ends and godsdammit he couldn’t _really_ be left with nothing but the stupid, stupid truth, could he? “I just don’t want to, I dunno – trap him. Or something.” He could. It indeed sounded stupid, even as he said it, but the words were out before he could stop them.

Raptor tilted her head. “Trap him? It’s a _wedding,_ Balance. At this point he knows what he’s getting into, and _most_ cultures with weddings have some kind of breakup method…” She’d begun tapping at her datapad. Balance had a hunch as to what she was trying to look up, and if he was right, then she wasn’t going to get anything. It almost made him feel like laughing. The way she was treating all this like some sort of _logic puzzle_ to solve – just hilarious.

Except that he was still dealing with the feeling of being stuck in a vise. “If it’s not gonna last, why bother? Other than for wedding presents, and I don’t exactly feel like stealing from _you._ No offense.” He at least managed a chuckle, sitting down on the foot of his Voyager in a false casualness. “… I want him to be able to bounce whenever he wants. Not have to worry ’bout some dumb promise.”

Raptor sat down next to him, still tapping away at that datapad. “I really don’t think he wants to, um, ‘bounce’, though…”

Balance shrugged. “Maybe not now, but later he might.”

That at least got Raptor to look up from the datapad for a second. “You can’t make decisions based on _baseless hypotheticals_ like that! That’s, that’s – so cowardly!” She snapped, glaring at him sharply. “Besides, like I said, there _are_ usually breakup protocols…”

Ah, there went the deja vu again. Doubly so, because now she was repeating _herself._ “Yeah, but those are messy. And you know he’d take ‘forever’ seriously, now that someone’s told him that.”

There was awkward silence, for a minute, before Raptor finally set down the datapad in her lap, sighing in defeat.

“Well, um… er… Hey, do your people _have_ weddings? Sorry, I know, subject change. It just, um…” she asked, quietly, fidgeting with the useless datapad. “Sorry. I tried to look it up myself, so I could understand what your original idea of one is, but for people who’re so mechanical, you’re all really cut off from most networks.”

Balance shrugged wryly. Yup, there it was. “Yeah, ’pparently that was how we tried to dodge the whole Jark Matter mess. Crazy strong firewalls. Checked out of most external networks. Kept everything to ourselves. Didn’t really work out, but…” he sighed, fidgeting a bit himself. _“Any_ who, yeah, we do, kinda. It’s more of a hundred-year contract dealio, though. Then you can decide whether to renew, and all that jazz, y’know?”

“Hmm. Makes sense, since you live so long,” Raptor nodded back, smiling as the datapad-tapping resumed. Then, abruptly, she paused. “… Um. How long… do Naga’s people live…?”

Balance went quiet, and still, staring down at his hands. “I never asked,” he whispered.

Raptor reached out, placing her hand over his, the sound of metal clinking on pseudo-metal seeming loud in the silence. A silence that continued on, for a little while.

_“You_ would want to marry _him_ though, right?”

And then it was broken, by Raptor’s nervous-yet-firm question, and Balance couldn’t help but laugh, leaning back and staring at nothing in particular. “Gods, yeah. I’d spend a hundred years with him, easy.” Well, more like a thousand – no, even that didn’t feel long enough; he did actually want _forever…_

It still felt weird, really. Before Naga, his average ‘relationship’ had lasted… a week, maybe? He’d gone a month once, before he’d realized how long it’d been and panicked and left. He’d practically forgotten that person by the next week. Oh, he’d had _fun,_ and he’d feel pretty confident in saying his – ‘exes’ had all had fun too, but… He’d never felt like keeping any of them around. The long-term romance side of things had been something other people did, for reasons that had never really clicked for him.

Then Naga had shown up, and… He couldn’t say it was love at first sight. ‘Love’ still hadn’t been a thing that clicked for him, when he’d gotten caught on Ophiuchius and taken the first out that presented himself. (He was pretty sure he would have described it as an _attractive_ ‘out’, but did that count when they all had identical appearances?) And Naga had been useful, when a heist had presented its opportunity before he could shake off his ‘temporary’ companion, and then later, he’d talked so earnestly about his _dreams,_ and… Yeah, he’d felt _something_ then, something he had no reference for. So he’d ignored it. Kept ignoring it, as it kept happening, over and over, in tiny moments that never should have meant as much as they did.

By the time a year had passed, and they’d ended up at Jigma, still together, he’d had to admit to himself that something weird and new and terrifying was happening here. Terrifying, but not quite in the way that made him want to run away – or, rather, running away would’ve been scarier than staying with Naga. Because, somehow, without him noticing it, Naga became someone who _was_ a treasure to him. A treasure more precious than anything.

Which left him stuck, didn’t it now? Because he couldn’t bear to let go of the only person he’d come to _completely trust,_ not ever; but at the same time, if that person ever _wanted_ to leave, then he’d simply have to… let him. So wouldn’t it be safer to just…

Balance looked down again abruptly, realizing he’d let a silence go on for way too long, and he had a not-serious image to maintain, here. “Well, a hundred years is pro’lly too much to ask, right?” he started to laugh, but Raptor shook her head, cutting him off.

“Oh, of course we could modify it. Naga’s people possibly had some traditions of their own – they’d be ancient now, I think, but I’m sure blending things together would make for a beautiful –”

“Hey, hey, woah, rein it in a teensy bit there, wouldja?” Balance laughed again, a little more confidently, starting to edge back into the flippant personality he was more comfortable with. Yeah, this was fine, he could just slide his way back out of this – “I don’t think Naga’s gonna have much attachment to musty old traditions, and like I said, I’m not gonna –”

“Well, you need to talk to him,” Raptor nodded, more firm than nervous now, as if she had just gotten everything settled into its proper place. “It’s his decision, too. You can’t steal that away from him.”

– Or not quite. Rats.

“Hey, you know, I _am_ a thief –” Balance started, then raised his hands defensively as Raptor rounded on him. “Kidding, kidding! Chill! I’ll… yeah. Yeah, I’ll talk with him.” Because, dammit, she just had to go and be _right,_ just had to go and argue that he should let Naga have a say in it. Which he should, really, but… He was good at odds, and he could already calculate out what the odds were for Naga stubbornly still wanting this. Could already calculate the odds of him caving the instant Naga told him what he wanted again, too.

Wasn’t hard to calculate out 100%, after all.

He did so anyway, about three times, in the time it took Raptor to nod once.

“Good, finally. Hammy’s been preparing him, so let’s –”

"Wait Hammy’s been _what?!"_

 

* * *

 

 

Naga sat stiffly on one of the stools around the main table, perfectly still as he waited. Fidgeting was a behavior he hadn’t really picked up, outside of that one time when he’d been nearly too scared to think. Such was not the case now. No, right now he could bury the slight stirrings of fear under a blanket of confidence – after all, even if Balance might not want a wedding, he’d still promised before that Naga wouldn’t lose him. He hadn’t _actually_ broken a promise yet, as close as they’d occasionally come. Therefore, simple logic dictated: no matter what, he would keep his partner.

So he simply sat and waited – in silence, because Hammy had said Balance was near to arriving, and she had thus left. (She had a pretty good sense for when people were coming or going. Ninja training, she’d said, and Naga had no reason to doubt her.) Sure enough, within a few minutes (nine, he knew, because of the clock) the main doors were opening and Balance was flouncing into the bridge, for all the world as if Raptor hadn’t just shoved him in.

Naga didn’t quite know how to feel about that, but settled on relieved. Balance would never show up anywhere he truly didn’t want to be at.

“Hey, Naga!” He chirped, his cheerfulness strained enough that even Naga could tell it was forced, at least until the doors shut behind him. Then he seemed to relax a little, his body language paradoxically going more awkward. “… Sorry for booking it like that, earlier.”

“It’s alright,” Naga forgave him easily, inclining his head forward, “Hammy was telling me how these things should be discussed more privately beforehand. I’m sorry for not knowing.”

Balance groaned, one hand resting on his hip while the other flew to the side of his neck, a definite posture of annoyance. “Yeah? What else has she been saying?”

Naga automatically began lining everything up in his head, neat and tidy but not at all sorted by priority, because he had no sense of it. “That I shouldn’t worry. That you’re dumb. That weddings aren’t a big deal anyway. That you love me. That plenty of people never get married, or break their marriages. That you have commitment issues –”

"Woah, wait, that I _what?!"_ Balance yelped, switching hard from annoyance to complete and total shock.

Naga paused, frowned minutely. Which part had upset him? There was one that had been an issue before… perhaps that was it. “That you love me?”

“No! – Well, okay, yes, absolutely, I crazy love you, not arguin’ that point at all, babe –” Balance was sputtering, affectionate nicknames and affirmations tangling up together, hurrying down the stairs to stand next to Naga, his arms gesticulating wildly, “But come on, well, I _meant_ – ‘commitment issues’? Really? Who’s the one who already promised to stick by ya, here, huh?”

“I told her that,” Naga nodded, his own expression smoothing out as the conversation moved to more understandable ground. Sort of. “She said you only make promises when you’re backed into a corner, so it doesn’t count.”

“That’s – that’s just –!” Balance paused, then turned and sat down heavily on one of the stools, flopping his upper body onto the table with a soft _thunk._ “That’s not fair. It’s not like I don’t _keep_ them…” he whined, slightly-muffled.

“I told her that, too,” Naga said, gently patting Balance’s head in the hopes of soothing him. His partner’s wide and intense array of emotional responses were charming, but he _did_ prefer it when they were positive ones.

Balance just sat there for a few seconds, and then he mimicked a sigh, finally raising his head off the table a few inches. “You want to get married, huh?”

Oh, back to that subject now. Alright. Naga was a bit tired of repeating back what Hammy had said, anyway. “Not if you don’t want to,” he replied simply, leaving his hand resting on Balance’s head. Balance squirmed under it, but not in a way that seemed intended to shake him off.

“It’s not that I –! It’s just… Forever’s a long time, babe,” he made the sighing noise again, shaking his head slowly, and Naga wished he could figure out whatever dilemma was causing his partner such distress. “What about when you wanna break it off?”

That question was easy, at least. “I won’t.”

He’d said it plainly, because he believed it so much it felt like obvious fact – but Balance just chuckled at him. “Okay, you say that _now,_ but when you meet someone else you like – someone who’s perfect for you –”

“I won’t,” Naga repeated, still more firmly this time. “I already found you.”

_That_ got Balance to stop squirming and fidgeting, finally, instead going still and just staring at him with rapidly-brightening eyes until – _“Naga!”_ – he suddenly tackled him in a crushing hug, very nearly knocking them both off the stools. “Aah, I really do wanna spend forever with youuu…”

Naga blinked, hesitantly wrapping his arms around Balance, feeling a strange fluttering in his chest. It wasn’t quite like fear, the crushing weight of potential loss; but there was a tension, all the same, as if something might break.

Not knowing what to do with that, he elected to go with the first thought that came to mind, instead. “So you do want to be married?”

Balance looked up sharply, and the fluttery feeling increased. It was almost, almost enough to push into actual fear, but Balance spoke before it could. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. More’n anything. Well, I mean, we don’t hafta do the whole _wedding_ song-and-dance, but, if you really wanted to – to promise to be with me, forever, like, _seriously_ promise, then…” he trailed off, tightening his arms around Naga just a little.

… Interesting. He couldn’t tell whether the fluttering feeling had gone away, or had just intensified into this tight warmth in his chest. Either way, he didn’t want a single thing about this moment to change, which probably meant… Happiness? He found himself, quite unconsciously, smiling down at his enthusiastic partner.

Yes.

Definitely happiness.

“I want to do that, yes,” Naga said, still a little distracted by the discovery of a smile he hadn’t had to think about. At least until a separate, yet connected thought occurred to him. “… Raptor will likely be upset if there isn’t a ‘proper’ wedding, however.”

Balance sighed, heavy and entirely exaggerated. “She sooo would! Guess we might just have to have one then. Can’t turn down a free excuse to party anyhow, right?” he said, still mock-irritated, before – abruptly, he became a little more serious. “… But, hey. You sure about this? Once a treasure is mine… I’m not good at letting it go or sharing it, y’know?”

Naga tilted his head to one side, just trying to make sense of that out-of-nowhere bit of quasi-metaphor. It almost, sort of, made sense, but… Actually, come to think of it, it somehow half-reminded him of just after Keel. A time when they’d had, in private, a discussion over things like _types_ and _jealousy_ – or rather, a little more about how neither concept had entirely made sense to Naga at the time. It hadn’t helped that Lucky had been the one he’d even heard about ‘types’ from, and Lucky had told him there could be more than two people in a relationship, which had been a bit confusing…

That was Lucky, though. When _Naga_ tried to imagine sharing Balance – he found himself frowning, and quickly gave up.

“I don’t think I’m very good at sharing, either.” He tightened his arms around Balance, nestling his head down against his shoulder comfortably. Semi-comfortably. Comfortable enough. “And I definitely don’t want to let go. So… we’re the same. And I’m sure.”

Balance laughed, that laugh he always used when Naga was accidentally being ridiculous, but before Naga could even think to be annoyed, he was talking again. “Well, can’t argue with that logic! Guess I oughta do this right,” he said, sitting up straight and pulling back away but catching Naga’s hands in his, a tight grip that seemed to send that warmth right to his chest again. “Naga, will you marry me?”

Naga felt his breath catch and his heart pound, so painfully that tears started to well up. Which didn’t make sense at all, because he was _happy,_ so he tried to stop them, but he couldn’t risk letting a silence form here… He nodded, quickly, trying to get his voice to work. “Yes,” he managed, around the tightness that was spreading to even his throat. “Will you… marry me?”

Balance immediately tugged Naga’s hands in closer, holding them against his chest while his eyes glowed almost painfully bright. “Hey, you don’t hafta ask me back!” He said, laughing again as a tiny frown flitted across Naga’s face, “But you know the answer’s ‘yes’ anyhow, babe. Like I said! I really, super, _crazy_ wanna spend forever with you. OKyu?”

“OKyu,” Naga repeated back, intending to be serious, but it was ruined by the fact that the unintentional soft smile was back. He couldn’t even care, really. Not with happiness pounding and expanding in his chest, and Balance’s eyes glowing at him, and the sudden thought that he could kiss Balance, probably a lot if he wanted, it wasn’t even like anybody else was in here and –

"So does that mean I can tell Raptor you’re ready to start planning, or do you two still need _a minute?"_

– and an entirely unexpected voice startled them both, two very different heads whirling towards its source: one bored-looking ninja girl, popping in out of invisibility near the main doors.

As Balance groaned, it occurred to Naga that he hadn’t _actually_ watched Hammy leave…


	2. Chapter 2

Planning a wedding, everyone discovered, was something of a tricky job, even by the standards of people who had just finished saving the entire universe.

Raptor had taken over most of it of course, dashing around everywhere like a mad thing, surprise-attacking people in the halls with questions like “Which flower arrangement is more _elegant,"_ or "How _glittery_ should the tablecloths be,” or – on one memorable occasion – even asking Kotaro endless questions about table settings until he was forced to run and hide behind Stinger. Luckily, she rarely was in any need of an answer to her questions, having already in fact made up her mind. Unluckily, unless you were Lucky, the odds of choosing the _wrong_ answer were about eight in ten.

Half the crew was hoping she’d run out of energy soon enough. The other half, which knew better, was merely taking bets on whether she’d be any less possessed by frenzy when she was planning the _next_ wedding. (There had almost been a side-bet on whether or not it’d be her own, until Hammy and Spada killed it.)

_All_ of the crew was starting to learn that the best way to avoid being yelled at for choosing the wrong shade of whatever Raptor was worrying over, was to point her in the direction of some other poor sap and then run to another room. In today’s case, (only the sixth day since the proposal had even happened,) this led to Balance and Tsurugi both ending up in the third break room, the latter running a hand through his hair with a sigh as he walked in.

“’Sup? Escaping your fellow feathery friend?” Balance greeted him, having already set himself up in a corner where he wouldn’t immediately be noticed by anyone entering the room. Raptor’s latest fixation was the food for the reception, and he wasn’t about to get involved in something with _that_ little relevance to himself.

Tsurugi jumped and gave him an odd look for a moment, before something finally seemed to click. “Right. Phoenix and Aquila. Right,” he muttered to himself, as he hurried over to the corner, having noticed the tactical advantages of it for himself. (Kuervo would be proud, or perhaps jealous; they’d never figured out how much of that was actually Armage.) “Yeah. She’s on the warpath about whether fish or chicken would be better, when we all know damn well Spada’s making _everything_ possible anyway. Which means – it’s all pointless. Did you two _have_ to set her off like this?!” he whined, folding his arms.

“Eh. She wants to have the wedding happen before everyone scatters to the winds, I want to not be stabbed in the knees by an over-romantic android, it’s a win-win,” Balance shrugged, before politely removing his feet from a chair and kicking it over to Tsurugi. “Here, take a load off. Her patrols generally don’t sweep through here.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks,” Tsurugi replied, halfway between annoyed and actually grateful as he flopped down into the chair. “At least she ought to calm down soon enough. Congratulations, by the by.”

Balance said nothing to the first statement, (being, in fact, the one who set the odds for the Raptor bets,) and squirmed uncomfortably at the second. “It still feels weird havin’ everybody _know_ instead of just _guessing,”_ he complained, leaning his chair back on two legs with barely a wobble, “But uh, thanks? I think?”

“You… do want to get married, right?”

Balance couldn’t quite manage an eye-roll, but he _did_ mimic a very impressive sigh. “Yes,” he answered for about the ninetieth time, because it seemed nobody could believe that point. It was almost getting insulting, really. “’Long as Naga’s happy and I don’t have to choose the menu, I’m good. Not like I wasn’t gonna spend forever with him anyway.” He waved a hand dismissively – both towards Tsurugi, and his own lingering doubts that this wouldn’t just end up being a problem for Naga someday.

“Well… alright,” came the by-now expected response, with the also-expected suspicious stare attached, right on cue. Then, abruptly and less on cue, Tsurugi started digging into his jacket pockets. “Oh, speaking of choosing, though – for _some_ reason, I’m ‘in charge’ of the music for the reception…”

Balance’s automatic groan of annoyance was probably offset by the way he immediately leaned forward again in interest, returning the chair to four-legs-on-ground status. Music, now, _music_ he could actually have opinions on. He caught the mini-datapad as it was finally tossed to him, and started reading it at once.

“It’ll probably all just get vetoed by Raptor, but…” Tsurugi said, quite obviously trying too hard to sound casual.

Balance had to disagree, as he got about halfway through the list, surreptitiously connecting himself to the datapad so he could skim through the more unfamiliar songs. “Nah, this’s all definitely right up our new pink overlord’s alley,” he said, skipping through yet another rather slow ballad and idly wondering how a guy who spent 333 years in cold sleep had built up such a library of modern music. He supposed this (partly) answered what he’d done with their rare bouts of free time.

Tsurugi brightened up immediately, casual demeanor forgotten. “Really? That’s –”

“– But I, on the other hand, am _totally_ vetoing it.”

And his face fell again. “What? Why?!”

“Geez, let’s see. Slow song, slow song, too sappy, this one’s _sad,"_ Balance started from the top of the list again, shaking his head as he scrolled. Yeah, this’d definitely get approved by Raptor. ”Slow again – nine minutes, really?! – Oh, wait, this one can stay. Could actually dance to that. Seriously, prez, what’s the _point_ of a party without good dancing jams?”

That probably would have been the start of yet another argument, as Tsurugi puffed up and prepared to launch into a lecture that no doubt would have involved no less than nineteen uses of the word _legendary_ , but –

“Here. Try these.”

– a sudden interrupting voice and a datapad skidding across the nearby table had them both jumping, heads whirling around in search of the mystery intruder.

_“Stinger?!”_ Balance spotted him first, trying to look casual about lowering the mini-datapad he absolutely had not been about to throw. “How’d ya even –?!”

“Spy,” Stinger replied, pointing at his chest, as though that answered everything. “… I was in here before either of you.”

Balance and Tsurugi shared an alarmed glance, paused for a beat, and then both shrugged. Well, he _was_ a spy. And possibly the member of the crew with the lowest tolerance for wedding shenanigans, as it turned out. He’d been almost ready to outright sting Raptor a few times, even before the whole Kotaro incident; which was a bit overly-irritable even for the usually-irritable Scorpius warrior, but…

Balance had his own suspicions on that score, even if he was too polite – okay, too afraid of getting stung – to voice them. “Avoiding more than just Raptor, I bet.” Not too afraid to lightly tease, though, as he picked up the new datapad and plugged into that, instead, skimming Stinger’s list. “Oh hey, now _these_ are pretty good!”

Tsurugi had clearly been about to question Balance’s snide comment, and Stinger had been glaring at the same, but both were mollified by his surprised shout. “They should be… romantic enough to pass Raptor’s standards, as well,” Stinger nodded slowly, a hint of pride crossing the normally-stoic face.

“Well, mine’s still the more _legendary_ playlist,” Tsurugi sulked, but there was obvious respect showing on his own face as he looked over Balance’s shoulder. “Although… this one _is_ pretty good. Number four’s nice.”

Balance hurriedly scrolled back up to check that song, eyes dimming in a squint as he listened to it. “OKyu, maybe not that one. It’s crazy slow –”

“Number four stays,” Stinger insisted, flatly.

“But –”

“Four is for certainty.” Stinger’s voice was still flat, standing still and quiet as he didn’t quite look at anybody else, tail swishing.

Balance nodded just as quietly, lowering the datapad. He didn’t know what kind of Scorpius tradition he’d just run up against, (Tsurugi probably did, not that he’d ask,) but nevertheless… Stinger’s protective streak was both wide and obvious, and it was equally obvious now that this was something he felt would give them good luck – a thing they’d all learned to appreciate as a shield. So, if that was what he wanted to do for them…

“Guess I can put up with _one_ slow song,” Balance relented cheerfully enough, sliding the datapad back over to Stinger, who accepted it with a relieved nod. “That one’ll definitely get Raptor’s approval anyhow. Good luck getting her to approve the rest of it, though.”

“She’d better. I’m lead guitar, I’ll play my list anyway,” Stinger scoffed, speaking with a bravery that’d definitely get lesser men killed – wait.

"You’re _lead guitar?"_ Tsurugi yelped.

“With what band?!” Balance added, almost before he was done.

Stinger’s previous bravery evaporated right into awkwardness in an instant, squirming slightly under the sudden focus. “… Apparently, Minato couldn’t make it, but he pulled some strings and got us… most of a band.”

“Ah,” Balance nodded, as the pieces finally fit together in a way that made sense. Alright, sure, Minato was a guy what owed them favors, and was Hammy’s favorite space-idol besides. If he couldn’t make it on short notice, the least he could do was send some other talent their way, sure. And if that was lacking… “So, you got drafted to fill up the missing ranks, huh? Geez, sorry ’bout that…”

Stinger’s fidgeting only intensified, interestingly enough. “… Mm. Well,” he nodded noncommittally, and – once again, there was an _aha_ moment, and Balance laughed.

"You didn’t… did you? You _volunteered?"_ he asked, laughing harder when Stinger paled, and yet harder still when Tsurugi chose that moment to sulkily interject.

“Not sure why she didn’t just ask me. I’m plenty legendary at music.”

Stinger rolled his eyes. “Not at _guitar,_ you’re not.”

“How would you know?!”

“Our rooms are near each other.”

“The walls are soundproof!”

“You never let your door shut properly!”

“That’s –”

Uh-oh. Balance heaved an imitated sigh. He knew a raging argument-in-the-making when he saw one – and boy, was he ever seeing them lately. He slid easily under the table to make his escape, bouncing to his feet on the other side and skipping out of the break room. Time to try his next hiding spot. Maybe swing through the ship and find Naga first. It had been a while since he’d last seen him today – actually, he hadn’t seen him since this morning, come to think of it, which probably meant that Raptor had him deciding something ridiculous again…

 

* * *

 

 

Naga tilted his head, regarding the latest strange thing in a life that, one could say, had been nothing but a constant parade of them over the past few years.

“But why is it purple?” he asked.

Spada simply sighed, giving him the definite and unmistakable look of someone whose patience was wearing thin, which was impressive considering how much patience he usually had to give.

It probably wasn’t Naga’s fault, though. For as much as Spada loved cooking, he’d been stuck in this kitchen almost nonstop for the past six days, either researching recipes or testing new ones or just plain arguing with Raptor over menu limitations. It wasn’t as messy in here as Naga had been expecting, though, which showed that at least it hadn’t gotten bad enough for Spada to give up on standards.

“It’s for color contrast,” the harried chef explained, as Naga poked at the odd purple-and-white shreds that alternately seemed to have no flavor at all (unpleasant), or else a too-spicy flavor (unusual, but not unlikeable). "Now _please_ focus on the dish I’ve actually finished, _grazie."_

Ah, right. Naga had originally come in here because, out of the two main guests of honor, he _was_ the one who actually had some stake in the menu. Although – what with his general opinion of food being ‘it’s all equally interesting,’ he was mostly just there to make sure Spada didn’t somehow find something he disliked.

(Spada, probably, saw this as a challenge to find just the opposite, but that was his own business.)

Naga took a bite of the sample dish placed before him, something spicy-sweet, though not involving the strange, sometimes-spicy purple shreds. Finding nothing to dislike and nothing any less fascinatingly novel than every other thing he’d eaten since leaving his home, he nodded, giving a small thumbs-up.

Spada sighed, but smiled when Naga tilted his head in concern. "No, no, it’s nothing. _Grazie."_

“It was very tasty, Spada,” Naga hurriedly clarified, as soon as he’d swallowed, a slight frown crossing his face. The only problem here was that _everything_ Spada made was delicious. (Well, of course, everything else in the wide universe was usually delicious too, compared to food made with nothing but pure perfect nutritional value in mind…)

“It’s fine, really!” Spada’s smile only widened, but Naga was well-versed in forced tones, and this one ranked at a medium not-actually-okay. “I’ll definitely find something you’ll love. No problem.”

Naga opened his mouth to protest, but –

“Spada, Spada look, I finished!”

– a small teal blur racing into the kitchen and shoving a datapad at the chef interrupted him, derailing everything. Oh, well.

“Kotaro, you know the rules,” Spada reprimanded him as he took the datapad, mouth pressed into a hard line – but his eyes were soft and sparkling, because nobody could stay mad at the always-excitable child. Or so Naga theorized, anyway.

Kotaro nodded sheepishly, running over to the sink to wash his hands. “Sorry, sorry. Didn’t touch anything in here though, so I’m fine, right? You’ll look at my design, right?” He called over his shoulder, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Well… _si,_ I suppose,” Spada replied, his frown already melting into an amused grin and the datapad already booting up a hologram-drawing. “Oh, _bellisimo,_ Kotaro, well done!”

Naga had to agree, nodding as he regarded the cake design, himself. Kotaro, as it turned out, had a huge soft spot for sweets – something he normally tried to hide, since apparently it was ‘childish’ to him. (Not to mention being an unattainable desire, back when Jark Matter had held the area he lived in, and when having any food at all was a bit difficult sometimes.) Wedding excitement and trying to find some way to help had evidently pushed him past that embarrassment, however, and so now he largely dodged Raptor by being busy with this: designing the wedding cake. A wedding cake wasn’t really a tradition on any of the rest of the crew’s home planets, (not even the distant past of Ophiuchius,) but it was Earth’s, and nobody minded a tradition involving cake.

Kotaro was also, apparently, not a bad artist at all, at least when it came to this. His latest design looked like it would end up being a swirling masterpiece of confectionery, assuming it could be reasonably reproduced in real life; Naga particularly approved of the blending of mechanical patterns and sinuous knotwork along the sides.

Spada had a more critical eye, but even he seemed pleased. “Hmm, we’ll need to shore up this bit with something, or it won’t hold itself up,” he pointed out as Kotaro raced back over, drying his hands on a towel. “But the fruit here is a lovely touch, and I think I know just how to do the sugarwork for here. Truly, wonderful work, Kotaro.”

Kotaro beamed back, an intensely bright smile that Naga couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of. Expressions seemed to come so easily to this small Earth child… But then he was turning towards him, and jealousy was shoved aside by expectation. “Uh, what do you think though, Naga? It’s your cake, an’ all…”

Naga looked over it once more, struggling to quickly find words and tones and put them all together (hopefully correctly) in his head. “I like it. Very much. Thank you,” he finally settled on, awkward and probably too-flat, but honest, at least. “But… what is that, at the top?”

“I was just about to ask that, myself…” Spada admitted.

Kotaro’s cheeks went pink, his fingers linking together and starting to fidget. “Oh! Um, see – wedding cakes are _s’posed_ to have this thing on top, it’s like, little candies or dolls of the people getting married? I’m just not very good at drawin’ people, sorry…”

_Oh._ Naga took another look at the drawing, and, well… the colors were right, at least. He could try to imagine what it would actually look like, based on it. His imagination wasn’t the best, but… it seemed like it would be cute. Sort of. Probably. He nodded, as Spada’s smile returned with a flash of understanding.

“I see, I see! _Si,_ I can do that too. I’ll have to think about whether to do marzipan or… Ah, later, later,” he waved a hand as if dismissing that thought, moving towards his shelf of recipes as if struck by an interrupting one. “That just leaves the question of what flavor of cake to do…”

He clearly hadn’t been asking Naga, for reasons that were as obvious as the empty tasting plate sitting on the table. Still, by that same plate, Naga could easily see his probable future stretching out: a future of tasting too many cakes, and not liking any of them _enough._

To attempt to head that off, he turned to Kotaro instead. “What is your favorite flavor of cake, Kotaro?”

The blush on Kotaro’s face deepened, as he struggled against prior embarrassments, but current enthusiasm won out. “I had a vanilla and lemon cake once, and I think that was pro’lly the best,” he admitted, his voice going very quiet as he added, “It was mom’s favorite.”

There was a small, respectful pause before Naga finally broke it.

“Would it be okay if I had this cake be like that?” He asked.

Kotaro nodded, blinking fast to prevent the tears that were threatening to well up. “Yeah. Um. I’d like to have that again. Yeah. Spada?”

When Spada had initially turned back around, after Naga’s question, his expression had been one of clear reservations. It couldn’t hold up against Kotaro’s own expression, though, and the chef sighed. “Alright, alright, vanilla and lemon it is.”

Naga nodded, satisfied but not willing to risk trying to put on a smile just now. He liked this feeling, of everyone trying their best to make something special, all the little things and rituals meant to provide as much good luck as possible, all the large efforts and tiny gifts. (It felt like nothing had changed; it felt like everything had.) Even gifts from people who weren’t here, it seemed. Perhaps this cake might, somehow, actually taste better than delicious –

“Hey, you done with my partner yet? Or maybe actually making some drinks for once?”

For a second, illogically, at the sound of a loud exuberant voice bursting in, that possibility seemed to shift into certainty. Because Balance had always made everything better, more intense, had been by his side to help him find so many new things, and – he turned to spot his glittering gold partner, poking his head into the kitchen door, feeling warmth flood his chest – and pretty soon, they’d make it as certain as possible that they’d be by each other’s sides forever. _That_ was what amassing all this luck, all this effort was for. It was amazing.

Spada just scoffed at Balance’s words, probably totally unaware of the mass of complicated thoughts racing through Naga’s head. “I’m a _chef,_ not a mixologist. Though I’ll do my best… Anyhow, I’ll handle drinks after the rest of the menu is set.”

“But that’ll take _literally forever!”_ Balance whined, flouncing into the room and draping himself over Naga dramatically. There was genuine warmth in his hug, though. _He_ probably knew how lost in thought he was, and maybe even knew why. “Just throw an entire recipe book onto a menu sheet and call it a day already, geez.”

Spada’s scoff turned into an outright glare, pointedly aimed at the biomech’s hands. “Hey! You know the rules of a kitchen!”

“But I’m not touching anything! ‘Cept Naga, an’ he’s not a cooking tool, he’s just mine,” Balance countered, far too smugly, and Naga was about to give him a gentle warning but –

_“Balance!_ That’s it, out! Out of my kitchen!”

– too late, Spada was mad now, and Balance was just laughing, like he’d planned this all along.

“Oopsy-daisy, looks like it’s time to book it, Naga!” And now he was yanking Naga out of his chair, a tiny whirlwind of energy that was very lucky he was loved. “C’mon, let’s bounce!”

“W-Wait, I didn’t mean _both_ –!”

Naga sighed a little as he let himself be dragged out, giving Spada what he hoped was an apologetic look over his shoulder as they left.

It was only a little sigh, though. He loved his partner, wouldn’t have him any other way, and – he was kind of full from all the taste-testing anyway, after all.

 

* * *

 

 

“Everything goin’ alright, babe?”

Balance watched, as Naga went over the past day in his head, and possibly the past week too, and then nodded. They were sitting in the second break room, now, huddled together on the couch, Balance leaning on Naga’s shoulder. It seemed like, paradoxically, preparing to promise to be together forever left them with less time to be together _now._

Still, it wasn’t like Balance wasn’t used to stealing what he wanted, and stealing someone who wanted to be stolen was _easy._ At least for a little while, until they both had to dive back into the madness and try to direct it towards some kind of end.

For now, though, cuddling was definitely all that was on the agenda, as Naga carefully began listing off how his day had gone. “Kotaro’s cake designs are about done. It’s going to be vanilla and lemon. Hammy still wants everything to happen on a beach. Commander’s still insisting on officiating even though we don’t know what the ceremony will be. Raptor wants to know if… we want to invite anyone.”

It was tempting, to focus on the myriad of other, less dangerous subjects Naga had opened up. Unfortunately, if he did that, Raptor would just bring it up again later, and he wouldn’tve had any time to prepare for this. Geez. “Is there anyone you want to invite?” He asked, gently squeezing Naga’s hand in his own, since just because he was confronting the subject didn’t mean it had to be _head-on._

“No,” Naga replied, shaking his head, and for a second Balance thought that was the end of it. “They would not wish to come. Or, if they did…”

Balance just barely held back a hearty _‘well screw them then,’_ because Naga still cared about his home. Even if they’d once sent assassins after him. Even if they probably still would, if they thought it’d have a chance in hell of working. Ugh, he still kinda wanted to punch that Echidna chick, a little bit…

“They’ll come around, babe,” he said instead, trying not to think too hard about what role Naga’s home system might play in their future. With any luck, nobody would be trying anything against two of the twelve saviors of the godsdamned universe, not anytime soon. But someday Naga would want to go back, himself, and that – he had to admit, that terrified him. Enough to shove the thought away, to a future that hopefully wouldn’t be as bad as he feared.

Naga just nodded again, and leaned against him a little harder. “Mm. Did you want to invite anyone?”

Hmm. Well, it wasn’t as if some of his clan _wouldn’t_ probably show up, if they knew, but… “Nah. Not really anybody I feel like talking to. ’Sides, wouldn’t be fair, since you can’t.” And he didn’t feel like sharing this. The other Kyurangers were one thing, but any more than that and he’d start feeling antsy.

“Okay,” Naga said, and that was apparently that, as he went silent and shut his eyes and simply continued leaning against him. Whether because he knew the reasons that Balance wouldn’t state, or just because he believed him at face value…

Well, he should probably be a bit less trusting, in general. Still – Balance loved him for not pressing the subject, either way. Loved him in general, too, of course, but especially right now. Yeah, he could go for at least another hundred years of this.

He was just debating on whether he could get away with going for maybe a bit more than cuddling, when the question was unfortunately answered by the door sliding open.

“Oh, hey. Either of ya seen Stinger lately?”

Naga’s eyes fluttered open as he blinked in surprise at Garu’s head poking in, while Balance shook his head a little grumpily. Stupid wedding prep. (It wasn’t even technically to blame this time, but he’d blame it anyway.)

“Is he still avoiding Lucky?” Naga asked, and Balance’s voice modulator stuttered over a surprised laugh. Oh, so he’d noticed too, huh?

“I-It’s not that!” Garu was stuttering too, now, as he hurriedly slipped into the room and made sure the door was shut behind him, glancing around as if convinced they might be hiding Stinger somewhere. “It’s just. Y’know. Raptor… wanted t’see him, grr. Yeah.”

Balance snickered. “Wow, you’re _rea~_ _lly_ terrible at telling fibs, pal, you know that?”

Garu tensed up for a second – and then he sighed, deflating like a punctured balloon. “Yeah, I am, ya got me. Lucky’s been wantin’ t’ ask him t’ come along with us, but he’s been awful good at dodgin’…” he explained, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly. “Not real sure why, though?”

“Kotaro’s staying with the Rebellion,” Naga commented simply, and Balance made a soft ‘ohh’ noise as Garu’s eyes widened. Huh, he hadn’t considered the kid. He’d just figured there’d been an argument, or something. Point to Naga’s observational skills.

Balance nodded thoughtfully, giving his partner’s hand a proud little squeeze. “Someone’s gotta keep an eye on the kid, right?”

“W-Well, _yeah,_ but Raptor an’ th’ Commander are gonna be here, aren’t they? He could at least see _one_ system with us –” Garu began to protest, arms folded as he frowned petulantly – and then his voice just stopped, his head swinging around to look intently at the door.

“Ah, it seems Lucky’s coming,” Naga murmured quietly, and nodded with probable satisfaction as the door opened again and a grinning face peeked in. “How does he always know?”

Balance shrugged. “Pro’lly best not to ask,” he whispered back, watching with amusement as Garu’s attention _entirely_ shifted towards the guy bounding into the room and greeting them all cheerfully. Sheesh, and to think he’d once been surprised that Balance had been able to guess at his crush…

“Hey, guys! There you are! Stinger’s not here, either, huh?” Lucky’s voice was boisterous and bright, sunlight in vocal form; sometimes it amused Balance that the moon side of Shining was the only side that affected Garu. He clearly had a thing for _this_ sun, after all. “Man, wonder where he ran off to…”

“I last saw him arguing with Tsurugi. Literal hours ago, though, so he’s pro’lly being all mysterious and broody somewhere else by now,” Balance offered, and Naga shifted uncomfortably against him, probably sensing the slight lie somehow. Okay, okay, so not _literal_ hours, possibly not even one single hour, but couldn’t he exaggerate a little?

Lucky, meanwhile, frowned at the first bit but brightened up in amusement at the second. “Well, I’ll find him eventually! He can’t brood forever. C’mon, Garu,” he paused, and grinned over at them in a way that made Balance realize that he and Naga had been cuddled up during this entire conversation, without even thinking about it. It was a weird feeling, compared to when they’d kept everything to themselves… not a bad one, though. “Time to check somewhere else. Let’s let these binary stars be alone for a bit, ’kay?”

Now _everyone_ paused, staring at Lucky blankly. (Or, well, more blankly, in one case.) Garu was the first to break the silence, clearing his throat hesitantly. “Uh, whatsit stars, now?”

Lucky blinked back, his own expression going blank for a second. “Binary… oh, is that not a thing outside Luth? Auto-translator’s probably having a hard time with it, then. I always thought it was cute, though…”

“What does it mean?” Naga asked before anyone else could, tilting his head in curiosity and ending up resting it on top of Balance’s. (Possibly accidentally.) (Probably not accidentally.)

“Well, y’know, it’s… hmm, what do you call it…” Lucky scratched at his chin thoughtfully, face all scrunched up in a frown. “Like, a nickname, I guess? For a couple that’s, like, super dedicated to just each other? ’Cause y’know, binary stars just orbit each other, ’round and ’round forever, making each other brighter.” He beamed at them all for a moment as he finished, before adding in a once-again-thoughtful tone, “Though I guess really most binary systems are more complicated than that. And the stars can make each other explode. But it’s cute, anyway.”

Oh, huh. Yeah, come to think of it, _apparently_ Luth’s culture – at least, the part Lucky was raised by – was one of the ones pretty open to polyamory. So they probably did have some specific terms for two-person relationships. He couldn’t deny that the metaphor was kinda cute, either, setting aside the bit about exploding…

“We don’t plan on exploding,” Naga said promptly, serious as almost-always.

“Not in the deadly way, anyway,” corroborated Balance; not at all serious, as almost-always. He snuggled in a little closer to Naga, too – there was a plan here. It wasn’t actually proper innuendo, but it had the cadence of it, so unless he was very mistaken…

Garu’s shoulders immediately tensed up, and his gaze slid pointedly away from them and onto Lucky instead. He cleared his throat. “Uh, weren’t we gonna go look for Stinger, grr?”

“Oh, right! Yeah! Okay, see you two later!”

Yup, _bingo,_ there it was. He’d successfully embarrassed their poor crewmate into leaving. Too easy. Honestly, it was all he could do to hold back a chuckle as Garu practically pushed Lucky out of the room… what an easy-to-read guy.

“You did that on purpose,” Naga accused as the door slid shut again, albeit gently, and his grip on Balance’s hand only tightened.

“Yup.” Balance tightened his own grip right back, eyes brightening, not remorseful in the least. “Now, what d’ya say we make the most of this, before someone _else_ decides to bug us?”

Naga, as it turned out, was pretty amenable to that.


	3. Chapter 3

“But that’s the most _boring_ part!”

Naga looked up from his task, at the sound of his partner’s voice raised in a whine on the other side of the curtain. It didn’t sound like anything dire, though, so he looked back down again after a brief pause, regarding carefully-chosen hangers with a bit of what he was pretty sure was ‘hopelessness’.

He was also pretty sure that they made the weirdest group to ever walk into this small Earth boutique. Today’s group consisted of not only himself and Balance (only mildly strange), but also Hammy, Raptor, and the Commander (definitely an oddball), as well. He’d silently apologized in his heart as they’d walked in, even though they were all well-known on Earth and the shopgirl had reacted with stunned joy to see _actual legends._ She hadn’t quite understood what the relationship dynamics involved were, but at least she’d been helpful to Hammy in picking out options for Naga’s wedding attire.

Hammy had decided that if her job in wedding arrangement was going to be anything, it was going to be the outfits. Something Raptor had obviously, _desperately_ wanted to have input on, too, but…

“Well, you won’t _actually_ be drafting contracts, so it’d be more of just an exchanging of… promises? Nice words? Look, it’ll be really romantic, okay?!”

… Today she’d gotten distracted by trying to nail down the details of the actual ceremony, hence why the Commander was trailing along after them, occasionally making a suggestion that was almost always immediately shot down. Always at exactly the right moment to keep tensions from breaking badly, though. For all that he was a terrible liar, their Commander did actually have excellent people skills.

Naga looked at himself in the mirror and deliberately tried an exhausted sigh, nodding as it turned out right. He’d worked out a pattern to help the Commander in derailing the arguments, and now it was his cue. He did one last adjustment of the latest outfit – a suit, this one dark with silver lapels – and walked out of the changing room to face his fate.

He managed not to wince this time at the now-expected squeal of approval from Raptor, as Hammy scurried around undoing some of his too-precise adjustments and clicking her tongue over the fit of the suit. (The Commander managed to find yet another pun, which everyone pointedly ignored.) Naga kept his eyes fixed on Balance, watching for – no, not quite. He seemed happy though, as he started to speak.

“Nope, no good.” Well, his tone was still happy. “He’s gonna get stolen right out of the ceremony if he looks _that_ nice.” Ah, he was teasing.

“Stop being ridiculous,” Hammy chided, sticking out her tongue when Balance shot her an offended glare, “You’re gonna be the only other thief there.”

_“My point exactly.”_

Hammy promptly ignored him. “Do you like this one, Naga?” She asked, her tone softening markedly.

Naga looked down, considering the question. “It’s warm.”

“You’ve said that about every suit so far!” Hammy groaned, while Balance laughed and Raptor made sympathetic noises.

It was true, though. They were all warm, which was one of his criteria, and they all clearly had Balance’s approval, which was pretty much the other, but…

He shook his head and turned to re-enter the changing room. “I will try one more. One moment.”

“’Kayyy, have fun! Right, so, _how_ long did you say the procession was gonna take?”

Naga shook his head again, as another argument started up the instant the curtain swung closed. It seemed Raptor had forgot to mention all the bickering involved in weddings. Oh, well. Bickering was involved in just about everything this crew ever did, so perhaps it was less a wedding thing and more a _them_ thing.

Regardless, it was time for what would _hopefully_ be the final trying-on of the day, if his theories held true. He stepped over to the small bench, where he’d laid out something that he’d secretly picked for himself and tucked away in here while everyone was distracted. (Balance would likely be proud of him for that.) It wasn’t as warm as everything else he’d been trying on, but he was pretty certain it’d get the reaction he wanted to see, so it would only be a small tradeoff… assuming it worked.

It took him a few extra minutes to get into the outfit, carefully straightening out seam-lines and fumbling with oddly-tricky buttons, but eventually – after one last look in the mirror to arrange his expression – he exited the changing room again.

As expected, there was a choked squeak from Raptor, not as startlingly loud as her previous reactions. Hammy looked like she was too busy trying to figure out where he’d gotten the clothing to react to how he looked in it. Commander _still_ somehow found a pun, even though he looked just as surprised as the girls. (The shopgirl, half-forgotten, dropped the bundle of handkerchief squares she’d been rearranging over and over as an excuse to stay nearby enough to eavesdrop.) None of them were the target, though, and Naga hesitantly raised his eyes just in time to catch –

Ah. There it was. Balance had entirely frozen up, his eyes bright as he stared at him like he was the only person in the whole universe. _That_ was the reaction he’d been waiting for, and if he’d had to pull out a trump card to get it, well – at least he’d figured out what the trump card was. “Is this one good, Balance?” he asked softly, even though he knew the answer already.

“… You’ll definitely get stolen right out of the ceremony,” Balance muttered as he unfroze, fingers drumming on his hips while he continued more loudly, “You _know_ that looks great on you. You sure you want that one, though? Like yeah, you wore dresses for our fake weddings, but that doesn’t mean ya hafta –”

“I know.” That was how he’d gotten the idea that a dress would work; it had been a long time ago, but the first time they’d pulled off a wedding heist, he’d caught a glimpse of that same reaction from Balance. It hadn’t meant anything at the time, and he’d almost forgotten it until he’d seen the dresses in this boutique today. Now, with further context… “I want to wear this one.” Because that all-over freeze, the closest thing Balance had to having his breath taken away, meant that he _really_ liked something. It was… fun to watch.

Hammy clicked her tongue in annoyance again, marking the first moment Naga realized she’d been fussing over the fit of his dress for a short while now. “You should’ve just _said_ you wanted to look at dresses, then! Honestly, and this isn’t even ‘warm’…”

“He looks really good in it, though,” Raptor was squealing again, hurrying to circle around and check the swirling, lacy white-and-silver fabric concoction from all angles. “Ooh, I think he picked the best dress in the shop, I’m a little jealous…”

“It’s warm enough,” Naga protested, ignoring Raptor in favor of trying to let his own mild annoyance show towards Hammy.

Hammy scoffed, giving him an amused look. "You’re _shivering."_

… Oh. So he was. Well – “Taking off my clothes so much gets cold…” he explained flatly, getting a sputtering noise out of Balance and a booming laugh out of the Commander in return.

“Alright, alright, in _that_ case,” he chuckled, over the continuing sounds of Balance’s inability to pick a sentence, “Since we seem to have finally decided on an _adora-ball_ outfit, why don’t you leave the purchasing of it to us, and I’ve got just the idea for what you can do to go warm up! It’s – um. Oh, what was the word again? It’s a local thing. Was it ‘sauna,’ or ‘onsen,’ or…”

“There’s an onsen right around the corner,” the shopgirl piped up helpfully, still shooting wide-eyed glances at Naga every so often. “I think it’s closed right now, actually… but I’m sure they’d open the baths for you. Um. All things considered.”

“Ooh, _baths!_ I don’t think I’ve ever taken you to one, have I, Naga?” Balance had finally found words again, brightening up excitedly.

Hammy stared askance at him, hands firmly and disbelievingly placed on her hips. “You can _not_ tell me _you_ never took him to any kind of hot springs –”

“What are those, Balance?”

Hammy’s visible disbelief melted away, leaving her with just amazement. “… Wow. You really haven’t. Never mind.”

“Oh, you’re gonna love it, Naga,” Balance assured him cheerfully, already spinning him around towards the changing room, “C’mon, hop back into your normal clothes and we’ll both go check it out!”

The shopgirl’s quavering voice cut in again, bringing them both to a halt. “Um! Wait, but –”

“Don’t worry, lady, I’m waterproof,” Balance laughed, a little condescendingly.

“No, no, not that, um,” her face was lightly pink, now, as she smiled and shyly held up a small phone, “… Could I get a picture before you go?”

 

* * *

 

 

Balance heaved an imitated sigh as he slid into the water, leaning back and focusing, momentarily, on the soothing heat surrounding him. Today had been a _long_ day, no thanks to Raptor insisting on finally hammering out the details of the ceremony itself. In his opinion, ceremonies were boring, and pointless, and deserved shortening, and Raptor agreed with precisely none of that. So definitely not the best day… Though, Naga managing to pull that _dress_ out of nowhere had gone a long way towards salvaging it.

Speaking of which… He glanced up at his partner, who was still crouched at the edge of the bath and staring at the water silently. They were the only ones in here, since the place had indeed been closed, but had indeed been willing to open for two Kyurangers. Balance was pretty glad about the lack of company, to be honest. Not that he didn’t like people – so long as he didn’t have to _trust_ in them – and not that he had any concerns of modesty – what did _he_ even have to be modest about? Naga wasn’t particularly modest either, merely concerned with staying warm and observing such social conventions as he could recognize, in order to fit in. So, really, having anybody else around shouldn’t have been a big deal.

But he didn’t want to share how elegant his partner’s long limbs and graceful body looked, and he was glad he didn’t have to.

“You okay there, babe? The point is to get in,” Balance spoke up, as Naga’s quiet contemplation continued just a little too long.

Naga’s eyes slid easily from the water to him, but didn’t pick up any particular expression along the way, leaving him to wait for the explanation. “… Raptor said to be careful it wasn’t too hot.”

Balance had to laugh at that. Sheesh, the heat was the _point,_ and then she’d gone and… Honestly, it wasn’t _that_ hot. He’d made himself be hotter than this, for sure, the first time he’d discovered Naga’s weakness against cold. “And what did Hammy say?” He asked, betting on the tiny ninja having put her two cents in too.

“She said it should be fine, probably,” Naga nodded, a tinge of doubt crossing his features.

“Well, she was right. It’s not going to burn you,” Balance said, watching with satisfaction as the doubt vanished.

And then he watched with considerably more concern, as Naga promptly slid into the water – all the way until his head was covered, and he didn’t immediately rise back up.

“Woah there, no, not like that!” He yelled, darting forward to yank him back up in a minor panic, though he knew Naga couldn’t hear him until he did. “What are you doing?!”

“It’s very warm,” Naga commented, as if he hadn’t just been completely underwater for a good twenty seconds, “Should I not?”

“W-Well…” Balance paused. He definitely didn’t know what the rules on Earth were, and – he silently scolded himself, trying to keep in mind that drowning didn’t happen _that_ fast, even for those that needed to breathe. “I guess it’s fine. Just be sure to come up for air, okay?”

“Okay,” Naga nodded again, sliding back under and leaving Balance to mimic another sigh. Well, at least he wasn’t shivering anymore. He seemed to like baths, for sure, so maybe next time they could have actual conversations and…

Naga’s head popped back up again, surprisingly right in front of him this time; Balance had to struggle not to flinch or yelp or get too distracted by how flushed Naga’s face was now. He managed all three, just barely. “Hi again, babe,” he said, somehow more amused than strangled.

“Hi. Did you really like the dress?” Naga asked, his voice low and his darkened eyes serious.

… Balance realized he might be in trouble here, but it wasn’t certain and he was willing to play along until it was. Besides, hey, here was that conversation he’d been wanting. “Yeah, ’course! You’re gonna look crazy amazing. I wasn’t kidding about stealing you right out of the ceremony.”

“Hmm. How much time do we have at this place?” was the next question, and – it was curious. Naga wasn’t _distracted,_ per se, since each individual question was wholly focused, just…

Balance finally pinpointed it, as Naga glanced around the room, and he started trying to remember if they’d ever really been anywhere that was merely really warm rather than outright too hot. (The answer, he realized, was no; they tended to frequent _indoor_ areas, and other than that, they’d only really experienced uncomfortable extremes.) Naga was _energetic,_ for all that it was difficult to recognize on him; more energy than he seemed to know what to do with. It reminded him of when the sun side of the Shining Kyu Globe got activated. He’d always wondered why Naga got affected by that too. Part of him just figured it was his partner following his lead, as he always did.

Now, it occurred to him that suns didn’t only provide light, but _warmth_ as well…

_‘We’ve got all the time we want,’_ – was what he nearly said, before his brain _unfortunately_ had to point out that it wasn’t true, and anyhow, they were guests in a (normally-) public area right now. Ugh, when had he gone and gained a moral compass? He blamed the whole saving-the-universe thing. At least he could still say with some certainty that he continued to be okay with stealing things. He hadn’t gone _that_ far good, yet.

Regardless, as much as he’d been curious to see how many innocuous questions Naga had in his brain before he got to anything else… “Sorry, babe. We’ll have to leave pretty soonish here,” he said, shaking his head, though he couldn’t resist running a hand through the wet strands of Naga’s hair affectionately. “But I’ll make sure we both get to turn in at a _decent_ hour tonight, OKyu? And hey, after this is all done – I know a few places like this where we _could_ spend as long as we wanted…”

Balance watched as Naga’s expression shifted from disappointment to interest to the quiet affection he usually had nowadays; all subtle but all definitely there. “Okay. I’ll wait for it,” he said, his voice lighter but still too-serious. He leaned in to kiss him anyway, too, soft and gentle and not something he could directly reciprocate, but Naga never seemed to mind.

Balance happily let his eyes shut off for a moment, tugging Naga into a hug and nestling his head against his neck. Ah, geez… “I really do love ya, babe.”

“I know.”

“Hey –!”

“I love you, too.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Still having trouble making up your mind, partner?”

Stinger looked up, startled, automatically tugging his pendant back into his hand, safe and concealed. Old habit, just like looking at it in the first place. It probably should have called up too many complicated memories to be useful as an idle focus, but somehow, he found, it seemed to work a little better because of that. Sometimes, letting his brain hum around the outskirts of a problem worked best.

Of course, other people didn’t always agree. Especially in the case of Champ. He was always… very direct. At least this direct question had a direct answer he could give, one that didn’t confront the real problem he was thinking over. “No. I’m definitely staying on with the Rebellion.”

“’Cause the kid is?” Champ asked, sitting down gingerly to join him at the table, trying not to accidentally nudge the jukebox. The bridge was big, but there were bits of it not wholly made with a giant wrestling-robot in mind.

Stinger shook his head again, glancing aside to hide a small smile – he couldn’t help it, watching Champ try to be delicate was _funny._ “No. Well – yes, but also… Jark Matter’s still out there, in bits and pieces. Universe’ll be a lot better if we pin them all together and wipe them out for good,” he explained, as calmly as possible given the cold feeling in his stomach and the impatient, automatic swishing of his tail.

“Oof, yeah, you always _were_ a serious one, huh?” Champ nodded, good-natured amusement written all over his tone if not his face. “Well, I’m pretty sure Jark Matter’s gonna be hidin’ real good, though, given the smackdown we just gave ’em. You sure you don’t wanna try out wrestling for a season? You’d make a helluva heel, moo.”

Stinger pulled a face, unable to hold back a groan. “Don’t you start, too…” Honestly, he didn’t even know the first thing about _professional_ wrestling; all the terms Champ tended to use inevitably went straight over his head…

“Ah, so you _are_ avoidin’ Lucky.”

Stinger startled, staring at Champ in wide-eyed embarrassment as he just chuckled at him. “That’s –” he opened his mouth to automatically protest, and then sighed, giving up. Champ had actually managed to trick him in a conversation. _Champ,_ the guy who thought pretending to be a _different wrestler_ was a good disguise. Today was clearly just not his day. “… Yeah. He wants me to tag along on his trip.”

“So? If you don’t wanna, just tell him so. Lucky’s a good kid, he’ll understand,” Champ argued, proving that he really didn’t understand the problem at all. Lucky might understand, but he’d be _sad_ about it… “Though I still think you could use the vacation, moo.”

Stinger scoffed, glancing aside to try and hide the fact that his face had started going red. “Now you really sound like Garu,” he complained. He hadn’t managed to dodge _him_ quite so well, but at least he’d gotten away before Lucky could turn up and turn those hopeful eyes and twisty logic on him. He hadn’t been expecting _Garu_ to be arguing the point like that, though… “Why can’t he just be selfish?” he muttered, mostly to himself.

Champ obviously heard him though, laughing boisterously at his dismay. “You _both_ care too much ’bout Lucky’s opinion,” he said, causing Stinger’s face to go even further red, and “I’m sorry your friends are all goody-two-shoes,” he added sarcastically, which only made him wonder when he’d picked up sarcasm. And also _what the hells he thought anybody’s relationship on this crew even was._

Before he could think too much about that, however, he realized that there’d been a sound just under that sarcastic comment, the sound of the main doors opening, a half-second before a new voice joined the conversation. “Hey, I resent that!” Balance’s head poked around the doorframe, quickly followed by the rest of him as he flounced into the room. “Anywho, so sorries for interrupting, but either of you seen Naga?”

Stinger scoffed. _“You’re_ not one of my friends right now, goody-two-shoes or otherwise.”

_“Ouch!”_ Balance laughed, at the same time as Champ elbowed Stinger (very gently, probably,) in the side.

“Be nice! – Uh, but, sorry Balance, haven’t seen him. What d’you need the guy for?” Champ asked, and Stinger tried very hard to keep his face poker-straight. It was _Balance and Naga,_ for crying out loud. Even before this whole wedding debacle, anyone would’ve known that the answer to that question might not be one you wanted to hear.

_Really,_ what the hells _did_ he think everyone’s relationships were…?!

“Raptor wants to run part of the ceremony by him again,” was thankfully the answer today, Balance shrugging with dramatic disinterest. “But _I_ wanted to get his opinion on a couple of ships. Voyagers aren’t made for long distance.”

Stinger nodded, half from relief and half from approval. Huh, so Balance could actually manage to be sensible, at least sometimes. Amazing. He started to mentally line up his own questions about the ships, but before he could indulge his curiosity –

“Huh. Come to think of it – hey, Balance, what’s a wedding like on your homeworld, anyhow?”

– Champ was jumping in with a question first, resting his chin on his hands and looking impressively curious for a guy with next to no facial motion.

Balance gave him an odd look back, folding his arms and tilting his head. “Uh, you realize _this_ ceremony’s gonna be nothing like those, right, big guy? I mean, Raptor’s yanking parts of it, but…”

“Oh, yeah, but I was kinda curious anyway. Sorry, is it rude of me?” Champ apologized, and Stinger wondered whether he had any chance of just sneaking out of here somehow. More goddamn wedding talk, and Champ was being cute, and he still had to figure out how to keep avoiding his problems forever…

“Nah, no worries, pal! Uh, lessee, first there’s the procession, that’s everyone walking in but _dramatic,_ which takes for-freaking-ever,” Balance promptly launched into an energetic explanation, and Stinger silently despaired as he realized Balance considered _him_ part of the audience too. “Then ya got the reading of the contracts –”

That at least caught Stinger’s interest. “Contracts?” That was a new one. He knew everywhere had their own traditions, sure, and yes _technically_ all marriages were contracts, but… It still sounded a bit cold.

“Uh, yeah, duh? It’s a hundred-year partnership, of course there’s contracts,” Balance shrugged at him, and he shrugged right back. Ah yes, ‘of course’, the motto of traditions. Well, alright then. _“Any_ who, after that there’s some ceremonial stuff I always zoned out on, then…”

Balance paused, lightly touching one of his weights for a second – _interesting,_ Stinger couldn’t remember ever seeing Balance touch those before, even though he was always so fidgety – before he seemed to shake himself out of it and continued. “Uh, then there’s an exchange, dunno how to explain that one, then the braiding of the wires, and then _finally_ it’s all done and you can jet out to the after-party already.” He nodded as he finished, speaking almost at fast-forward speeds by the time he did.

Well, at least he seemed to have the same general feeling of _ugh_ towards all this that Stinger had – though, all things considered, perhaps he shouldn’t.

Champ, meanwhile, was nodding thoughtfully. “Hmm, I see… Wrestling tag-teams are easier,” he commented, in all apparent seriousness, as Balance laughed. “Well, thanks for explaining, bud. Dr. Anton never really gave me any info on that kinda thing, moo. ’Course, I never asked.”

“’Course,” Balance repeated back with mock-seriousness, clearly holding back another laugh before – “Aw, jeez, what time is it?! I gotta get back to finding Naga before Raptor does!”

Stinger rolled his eyes. _He_ was worried about losing time? He was pretty much the _cause_ of all the time Stinger had lost over the past two and a half weeks… oh, well. “Try the hangars. I think I heard him telling Kotaro he’d do the second look-over for him on his Voyager today.”

“Thanks!” Balance paused by the door. “Oh, and Stinger?”

“Yeah?” Stinger answered, against every instinct telling him this was going to be stupid.

“You should try remindin’ Lucky that, with _his_ luck, he’ll just end up crashing into you all over the place anyhow.”

… Huh. Well, maybe not that stupid. Still. “Yeah, but… That won’t _convince_ him,” he grumbled, reluctantly.

“Well, duh, but it’ll make him a bit less sad ’bout everything, at least,” Balance pointed out, before giving them both a jaunty salute. “OKyu, that’s it for ‘Balance’s Great Advice Time,’ see ya later gators!”

Stinger snorted and Champ laughed, as Balance finally skipped out the door. Hmph, that guy.

… Well. As much as he was _very_ ready for this wedding fiasco to be over and done with already, he had to admit…

He really was gonna miss everyone when they were gone.

Even Balance.


	4. Chapter 4

Naga tried taking a deep breath, to see whether it’d help. It didn’t, really, but he tried a few more anyway.

It was finally the day. Actually, Balance had said this had all gone much more quickly than such preparations normally took, so perhaps ‘finally’ wasn’t the right word, but it felt that way, but then again…

Another deep breath. Thinking about Balance just made him think about how he should be waiting on the other side of this door, and that made him think through the ceremony they’d cobbled together, and _that_ led to how many things could go wrong. (They’d decided on a place, even if it was nearly the last decision made. Not a beach, to Hammy’s disappointment, but a nice little building apparently made for parties and weddings, just barely fancy enough to get Balance’s approval without Raptor calling it tacky.) This was… he had a word for it now, which he was glad for. Because experiencing this level of _nervousness,_ without being able to call it something, likely would’ve catapulted the feeling into actual fear.

He still nearly jumped when a hand gently touched his arm. “It’s going to be fine, Naga,” Hammy said, smiling up at him. She was the last member of his half of the procession. (Dividing _that_ up had taken enough arguments that everyone had nearly mutinied.) He was glad about that, too, since it couldn’t be Balance. She’d always been nice to him. “You practiced so much – it’ll definitely be okay.”

He nodded back minutely, his gaze automatically dragging back over to the doors. It’d be Hammy’s cue soon, and after that –

Hammy physically tugged his head back to face her, squishing his face in that way she did when she was _really_ annoyed. “I mean it! You’re gonna walk in there and everything will be perfect, even the bits you might mess up. Because the guy waiting for you is _ridiculously_ in love with you, so he won’t even notice, and you won’t even notice the bits he’ll _definitely_ mess up, either. So it’ll be perfect, and then you’re gonna live happily ever after, ’cause so help me I will _stab_ him if he doesn’t make that happen! Got it?”

“’Es,” he managed to croak out, muffled by her hands, but together with his nod it seemed to appease her, and she beamed at him with – pride? Probably pride.

“Good – oh, there’s my cue. Keep breathing, okay? Remember what I said? See you again in a sec, then.”

Naga rubbed at his face as she left, the stinging sensation at least distracting from the nervousness a bit. She really was always nice to him… He took another deep breath, just before he opened the doors for his cue, and that one seemed to finally stick.

At least, a little. He still had no clue how he made it up to the front of the room, all those steps to join Balance and the Commander while Stinger played something-or-other on his guitar, but he’d somehow done it and now Balance was beaming at him – well, with his eyes, which was plenty enough – as Xiao launched into his speech.

“Ladies and gentlemen and esteemed guests, we are gathered _’round_ today…”

Naga tuned most of it out. He’d heard it too much while they’d been practicing the ceremony – but at practice, Balance often hadn’t been there. It’d all been too busy. He was definitely here now, however, looking amazing in the black suit with gold lapels he’d chosen for himself. (He always looked amazing, though, in anything or nothing, and Naga was nearly certain that wasn’t an in-love thing. Just facts.)

… It almost made him a little sad that he hadn’t gone with the matching suit. Only ‘almost’, because Balance’s full-stopped reaction to him walking in… He might not have remembered the walk up after that, but he wouldn’t forget _that,_ not ever.

“Breathe, babe,” Balance whispered under Xiao’s continuing speech, and Naga gave another tiny nod. How many times was he going to hear that, today…?

Well, at least he had the option of deep breaths, he supposed. Xiao clapped a hand to each of their shoulders, signaling the next step of the ceremony – what would normally be each side reading their contract, but for them it was less regulatory promises. (Most of the ceremony had ended up being a shortened version of a Libra-system one. As Balance had guessed, Naga hadn’t had enough interest in his own people’s abandoned traditions.) Balance was up first, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and clearly trying not to fidget with his hands. Naga realized, for the first time, that he was just as nervous as him. Weirdly enough, he felt a little better from that.

Balance imitated a deep breath, anyway, to signal everyone he was starting. “Okay so first of all, you guys can all blame Raptor for this. _She_ said I couldn’t just say ‘I love you, stay with me forever’ and be done with it,” he began, to surprised laughs and a cut-off protest from the room; he winked at them, before turning back to Naga, his eyes somehow serious now. “I do love you, though. I know I say that a lot, but there’s not enough words in the universe for how much – I spent so long…”

Balance paused, his voice crackling out as he shook his head a bit, clearly trying not to cry. “I used to be a solo act, before you caught me in Ophiuchius. I didn’t think I’d ever _trust_ anyone enough to change that – I thought you’d just leave. But you stuck around. You’re the only one I ever found, the only one I could ever trust completely. You’re wonderful, and determined, and crazy gorgeous, and… You’ve come so far. I’m proud of you, Naga, almost as much as I love you.”

There was a soft sob from somewhere, but Naga wasn’t about to take his eyes off Balance to find out where, not when he clearly wasn’t done yet.

“I know it’s been rough sometimes, and I don’t know how it’ll go from here, but… There’s really, truly, completely nobody else I’d want to find out together with. My promise is I’m gonna stick by you until I’m dust, Naga, or ’til you’re sick of me. So… I love you. Stay with me?”

(Once again the surprised laughs, muffled this time; nobody could restrain Raptor’s protest, but you could tell her heart wasn’t in it.)

Naga realized he’d started crying, as Balance finished. He was starting to think crying was more complicated than anyone had told him, because once again he felt overwhelmingly happy, but he could ask Balance to explain that one later. For now, it took him two tries to start taking his own turn.

“Balance,” he started, letting the word fill itself with meaning and affection, as it always did. He’d tried several other ways to start his promises, but that was the only one that he could count on. (Every time, over and over; he’d practiced this so much. Never in front of Balance, though. Once in front of Hammy, or part of it anyway. She’d cried, and he’d nearly scrapped the entire thing right there out of concern.) Then – “Raptor actually told me to shorten mine.”

That got giggles out of the room again, and one sigh, and Balance was clearly trying to hold back, himself, shaking slightly with the effort.

“I’d wanted to tell you a list of everything amazing about you. She told me to shorten it to the best ones, but I didn’t know how. So I’ll tell it to you later.” (Balance shot a quick glare over at Raptor, at that. Naga had known he would.) “After that, I didn’t know what to write, but… I was told to keep it simple, so it’d be short for you. And the simplest thing I know is: I love you.”

There’d almost been another glare out at the room at that, but the ‘I love you’ startled Balance out of it. He always looked a bit startled, every time Naga said it – but then, every time, his eyes would start glowing brighter afterwards. He’d imagined it while he was practicing, but reality, as always, was more intense and wonderful than his small imagination.

“I’ve learned so much, being with you. You always say you ‘stole’ me, but Balance, you rescued me. From a world of monochrome where nothing changes, to a universe of color. All the sadness, the anger, the wonder, the joy… Everything I’ve found since I left my home, it’s because you were there with me.” He hadn’t been sure about this part, but Balance had almost certainly been unconscious the last time he’d said it, and so he refused to leave it out or shorten it.

“You’re my heart, Balance. I could never want to leave that. I could never want to get rid of that. Everything I still don’t understand – I want to find it together with you. So, my promise is,” he had to pause, to take a shaky breath, to close his eyes for just a second. “I’ll give you all the time I have, if you’ll share yours with me. Until we’ve found every treasure in every galaxy, and even after that. I love you, Balance. Stay with me?”

The last lines had been improvised, of course, a risky addition when he hadn’t practiced them at all. It had been worth the risk, though; worth it to reopen his eyes and find Balance finally crying too – confusing, but so clearly the same kind of happiness he’d just felt. A good kind of confusing, probably.

Xiao had to clear his throat a few times before he could manage to call for the ceremony to continue, Hammy and Raptor hurriedly scurrying up with the exchange-gifts. (Hammy had clearly been crying again, and was just as clearly trying to pretend she hadn’t.) This was probably the least-practiced part of the ceremony, because both Balance and Naga had wanted to keep the gifts a surprise; much to Raptor’s combined happiness and frustration. It was romantic, but it also left part of the ceremony prone to mistakes.

They’d at least agreed that Naga should go first, since Balance had gone first in promises, so there wasn’t any fumbling over that. Naga was still a bit shaky, though, as he took his gift from Hammy, and turned to Balance.

His gift was one of the few parts of the ceremony that came from Ophiuchian traditions, one of the few that had caught Naga’s interest. The idea, apparently, had been to create a physical representation of a metaphor, to blend old memories with the promise of new ones. It had taken him a while to figure out how to actually do that, but with a little help from the others and a lot of instructional guides, he’d managed to come up with this. Delicate silver wirework in swirls and occasional knots made a bracelet, shining and new. And, at the focal point, a round, glittering blue gem – one of the first things he’d ever stolen together with Balance. He’d always kept it in his pocket, more absent-mindedly than anything; it had been sheer luck that it survived the death of the Orion.

Old and new and luck. He liked the things it stood for, though he couldn’t really pin down why. Even still, he was nervous as he put it on Balance, unsure if he’d feel the same.

“You made this?” Balance whispered, as he fumbled slightly with the shape-wires – they were designed to unclasp themselves and then reattach, but it was a little tricky when his hands were shaking.

He nodded, breathing a sigh of relief as he finally got the thing on. Balance looked at it, eyes glowing softly, and he nodded back. “I love it, babe, but you know I’ll forget to wear it sometimes…”

"Don’t you _dare,"_ Raptor hissed, glaring fiercely from off to their side, still holding Balance’s gift.

Naga just nodded back again, though. Of course he’d known that, and he wouldn’t mind. The important thing had been making it and giving it; as long as Balance didn’t lose the bracelet entirely, its luck would continue to protect him. It was alright.

Now Balance’s turn, and once again Naga felt strangely comforted to note that he was just as nervous, just as shaky when he picked up his gift. Naga wasn’t sure what it was, actually, until Balance reached up to sweep back his hair and then it clicked – _earring._ It was a clip-on, extending along the shell of his ear in a snake-like design, the top of its tail curling around a small silver gem; at the bottom, where there was the vague suggestion of the snake’s head, it held a tiny polyhedral weight. Small enough that it’d likely get completely hidden by his hair, but…

“It’s beautiful,” he whispered to Balance, and watched his eyes glow joyfully bright again. He knew with certainty that Balance hadn’t made this piece, but he knew with just as much certainty that it had been chosen and ordered with the utmost care and thought regardless. “I won’t ever forget to wear it, you know.”

“Good, embarrass him forever,” Hammy whispered, a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she and Raptor stepped back and Balance glared at her. The exchange was complete.

Well… It wasn’t a proper Exchanging, he knew, which involved swapping cosmetic parts of oneself with one’s partner – perfectly reasonable for a species that danced on the line between organic and non-, but less doable for someone whose body lay firmly on the organic side. Still, feeling the new weight on his ear, looking at Balance looking at the delicate bracelet on his wrist… he felt, perhaps, their own version was okay, too.

He didn’t have very long to look, though, before the Commander was clapping his hands on their shoulders again, turning them to face the room. “And with that, everyone… please welcome our new and officially-married couple!”

There was applause, everyone’s faces smiling (as much as they could, in some cases). There was a brief second, in which Naga’s head turned back towards Balance, and found Balance already looking at him, bright and fiercely happy, and he looked back, not entirely certain what was next.

And then –

Then Balance was tackling him in an enthusiastic hug and laughing louder than he’d ever heard, and everyone was running up and chattering and cheering around them, and – it was so warm. He’d never felt so much happiness in his life, inside him and surrounding him.

It was warm, and it was perfect.


	5. Chapter 5

The after-party was _definitely_ always the best part, Balance decided.

Okay, admittedly, Naga’s speech _had_ been pretty good, and maybe not _all_ of the ceremony had been boring. (Maybe only the parts before Naga had turned up, maybe only the parts where _they_ hadn’t been talking; to be honest, major chunks of the ceremony were already fading into a vague recollection of nervous joy.) (The parts that didn’t fade, though, were sparkling and bright.)

But regardless – having drinks and dancing and getting compliments and having food (for those who ate it), all with Naga right by his side, was definitely the actual best. (Spada never _had_ found something to be Naga's favorite food, but the cake he'd made had been absolutely stunning to look at. Kotaro had eaten five pieces already and nobody had the heart to stop him.)

“Oh, that ceremony was so lovely! Aren’t you both glad we had it?” Raptor was gushing, and, okay, maybe not _all_ the compliments were equal.

Balance would have stuck his tongue out, if he’d had one. As it was, he tugged on Naga’s sleeve and got him to do it instead.

“I am glad, though,” Naga added afterwards, which undermined it. “It was perfect.”

Sh-sheesh. How his partner – wait, was it husband now? He could use either, couldn’t he? – could say such things without even blushing… It wasn’t even an expression thing, Balance was sure. Naga just had no embarrassment in his soul.

“Awww! Good, good! Oh, I _so_ hope that – Hm? Everyone’s leaving the dance floor?” Raptor tilted her head, thankfully sparing from another diatribe on how much _she_ wanted to arrange another wedding by the noticed oddity. “I thought there’s still more songs…?”

“It’s the fourth song,” Naga stated, which didn’t help Raptor’s confusion at all, especially when Balance just groaned.

“We barely even got one _good_ dance in!”

“Because you wanted to fish for compliments,” Naga pointed out, elegantly holding out his hands for Balance to take. “There will be plenty of time tonight for more ‘good’ dancing.”

"Fine, _fine,"_ Balance grumbled, taking Naga’s hands and allowing himself to be led to the dance floor. Fine, one slow song, for whatever dumb tradition Stinger was weaving into their wedding. He wouldn’t like it though, he thought mutinously, as the band slowly eased its way into the ballad.

… Not even if it was kind of nice, just having a moment sort of to themselves, for what felt like the first time in ages.

… Not even if Naga had gotten a lot better at dancing, at least the kind with designated steps, and leading him through one was kind of fun.

… Not even if he occasionally caught glimpses of a smile on Naga’s face, as he twirled him, and all his systems threatened to just kind of stop for a second.

… Dammit, Stinger.

“Am I doing this right?” Naga asked softly, interrupting his internal attempts to continue hating slow-dances.

“Yeah, absolutely, babe! You aren’t even tripping on your dress or anything, see?” Balance answered, giving up on it. Fine, Naga was cute and the dress was unfair and Stinger had won, gods damn it all. They were all very lucky that he liked having fun even more than sulking. “Do you like this dance?”

Naga was quiet for a second, looking down at their feet before returning to looking at him. “Yes. But I like the way you look at me in this dress more.”

Oh, oh, that was super mega crazy cheating, right there. Well, two could play that game. (Two generally did.)

“You know what’ll be even better?” Balance’s voice went low, whisper-quiet, though he was certain Naga could still hear him.

Sure enough, his partner’s – _husband’s_ – head tilted curiously. “What?”

“Getting that dress _off_ of you later.”

Naga blinked at him – and then, slowly, he smiled, honest and sweet and only a little bit awkward, letting him see the smile properly. A smile he loved, a smile that showed all the incredible progress of the past year – a smile he was going to get to see more and more of, if he had any say in it, for the rest of their lives.

He twirled Naga into an elegant dip as the song came to a close, holding him there for just a moment longer than necessary, as the band prepared to launch into a much more upbeat tune and their crewmates started making their way back towards the dance floor.

Then the wall tore open.

Or, rather, the space in front of it did; an eye-searingly illogical gash of off-white.

 _“Hey, Kyurangers!_ How’s our favorite newbies?! We’re here to… help… Eh?! Ehhh?!”

 _… Well, so much for the small guest list,_ Balance found himself thinking, not entirely rationally, as a host of colorful people, seemingly led by a man in a red jumpsuit, came flooding in through the gash, only to be met by various weapons pointed at them in shock.

Their lives, it seemed, were just determined to forever be strange.

 

* * *

 

 

“So, _how_ did you manage to get all the way over here, again?”

As it turned out, the party crashers were all from the universe that some of their crew had once previously visited through a black hole, a universe which was _apparently_ a lot fuller than they’d ever realized. The party was back in full swing now, after the initially-rocky interruption had been smoothed out, and after Spada had calmed down about the sudden increase in guests to feed. (As it turned out, more than a few of them were very capable of helping with that, in one way or another.) There were still some tensions, of course – but a party was at least better than what their new guests had apparently been expecting to arrive to, and parties seemed to be a thing that crossed even universal barriers.

Balance and Naga had ended up on the sidelines of the now-packed dance floor, sipping drinks and questioning the first of the newcomers, who Naga had recognized. This particular one was apparently a cop, a concept that had needed a lot of explaining and involved a few nervous glances between the two thieves – but hey, as long as he didn’t find out who they’d been _before_ they were Kyurangers…

(Or, well, who they were planning to be afterwards, too.)

“Oh man, yeah, getting here was _not_ easy! It took our Swan this long to come up with a way, and she was working on it pretty much nonstop since we sent you guys home,” the red-suited guy shook his head with a baleful grin, gesturing towards a white-jacketed older woman who… looked a lot like she could be someone from their own Cygnus system, actually. She was also standing closely beside another person who could’ve looked familiar – at a glance, he looked a lot like Garu. Interesting.

“Why?” Naga asked curiously, only sparing this evidence of inter-universal similarity a passing glance before turning back to the subject.

“Yeah, why? From what I heard, you guys have a much nicer universe than ours, uh… Banban.” Balance nodded, pausing only a little awkwardly around the new name.

“Oh, just call me Ban, it’s easier! Anyway, ’cause we wanted to help you guys beat that big bad space empire, of course!” The self-declared ‘Ban’ proclaimed, with a wide grin and a punch into his own hand that had them both wondering whether being an irrepressible ball of energy was inseparably attached to the color red. (Then again, a couple other red-hued newcomers seemed to obviously break that mold…) “We had enough trouble dealing with our own Zangyack Empire a while back, and that was with those pirates using everybody’s powers at once to fight ’em! Sorry we were late… Guess it was for the best we couldn’t get _everybody_ together in time, though!”

Wait. What. "You have _pirates?"_ Balance exclaimed, looking sidelong at the so-called cop; now he was _really_ confused about what cops even did…

“This isn’t ‘everybody’?” Naga whispered, too quietly for their loud new/old friend to hear.

“Uh, not as part of the SPD, but they’re heroes, yeah! – Don’t tell their captain I called ’em that,” Ban said, grinning back at him in bemusement, before he stood up on tiptoe to survey the crowd. “Let’s see, uh… Gee! The only one I can spot right now is Doc! He’s helping your chef guy, see?”

Balance and Naga followed the pointing finger, and regarded the slight, frizzy-haired blonde in the green crushed-velvet jacket who was currently arguing over something with Spada.

“I see,” Naga said.

“If that’s what their universe has for pirates, I’m pretty sure we could clean them out,” Balance whispered to him, and was promptly shushed.

Not for nothing, as it turned out. “Oi oi, are you knocking our Doc?” An angry, boisterous voice rang out behind them, and they all jumped, spinning around to spot an angry, red-faced lady in a yellow jacket stomping up to them, with another girl in pink racing to catch up behind her.

Well, she certainly had sharp hearing, anyway. Not that Balance would ever admit to that. “What? No way, nobody said anything!” Not that he’d ever admit to anything, if he didn’t have to.

“Luka, you cannot just run around accusing the wedding couple of things!” The pink girl reprimanded, her voice carefully polite even in spite of being lightly out-of-breath. “Oh, I truly apologize, I _told_ her not to drink so heavily…”

 _That_ was even more impressive than the sharp hearing, then, because Spada had made dead certain not to put much alcohol into even the for-adults drinks. (People tended to assume Balance would have a high tolerance for the stuff, given how robotic he looked. This was not at all the case, and Spada wasn’t having a repeat of that discovery.) Then again – pirates. Maybe they’d brought their own liquor.

“He _did_ say somethin‘, thooough!" Luka protested sulkily, with a glare off into the crowd as she added, ”An’ ’s our cap’n’s fault, Ahim, _he_ challenged me. Idiot.”

Her apparent-crewmate sighed, shoulders slumping in such sad defeat that it earned Naga’s sympathy.

“Balance did say something. But he didn’t mean it,” he explained calmly, and recognition of some sort sparked in Ahim’s eyes as Balance protested. “Sorry.”

“Hey, c’mon, let’s all be friends here, guys! We’re all heroes, right?” Ban cut back into the conversation, grinning widely enough to possibly miss the dubious stares he was getting from Luka and Balance. “Oh, hey, right! Speaking of which, where’s your red, Naga? I wanted to say hi to him again!”

“Hmm,” Naga began to respond, turning towards the room again; he only just spotted Hammy talking to someone in yellow who looked an _awful_ lot like a less-shiny Minato, before –

“Aah, outta the way, outta the way, train comin’ through!!”

– he had to be yanked back by Balance, as a horde of small children raced pell-mell by.

“Right, we're _not a train!_ Sorry, sorry!” One at least stopped to apologize, a boy in a blue jacket who was now bowing profusely, while they were all still stunned.

He paid for his politeness, unfortunately, by their pursuer catching up to him. _“Tag!_ You’re it!” Kotaro yelled gleefully, before turning on his heel and racing off.

The boy wailed in despair, before, with one last “Sorry!” and a brief dilemma over which direction to go, he was off too.

They all stared for a moment more, and then Balance turned to Ban a little accusingly. “Uh, not that I’m any kinda responsible guy, an’ not that it isn’t great to see Kotaro getting to be a _kid,_ but,” he waved an arm expansively, "Was that an _entire team_ of children you brought to _fight Jark Matter?!"_

“It’s apparently complicated,” Ahim answered promptly.

“They have a babysitter!” Ban protested, at almost the same time.

“What is a babysitter?” Naga asked, and Balance’s disbelieving stare turned from Ban to him. Not so much because he didn’t know, but because _that_ was the question he had prioritized…

Then the wall tore open. Again.

This time was a bit less metaphorical, as the left wall of the event hall quite literally and physically exploded, leading to shrieks and coughing and everybody trying to shield everybody else. (Predictably enough.) A few members of the party weren’t prone to coughing, and they were thus the first to see the figures striding in through the smoke.

“Kyurangers! Foolish scum and vermin, did you truly think you had crushed the indeemable Jark Matter?! I, Perryi, Menaster of the Aquarius system, will instruct you on your ignoramus!” roared the largest of the figures, as the smoke began to clear – indeed an Aquarian, at a glance, all large muscles and sharklike skin and a broad flat head, as well as a tendency towards trying to be _eloquent._ Key word there being ‘trying’.

Balance and Naga shared a look, when Naga recovered, both already pulling out Blasters. Balance chuckled softly to himself as well, unable to help it when he spotted similar motions in his peripheral vision – what a _terrible_ day to choose to attack. This guy, quite possibly, had worse luck than Armage.

For now, though, he hadn’t seemed to notice his imminent predicament. “You may have won over my secret spy in the Earth boutique, but I’ll punish her later! For now, Kyurangers… I’ll… I’ll…”

Then the ex-Menaster blinked, slowly, as he finally realized just how many eyes were trained on him.

The faces those eyes belonged to grinned humorlessly back at him, (more or less,) as various devices were pulled out of jackets and bags and pockets and occasionally even thin air. Naga just smiled at Balance, as they prepared to join what was promising to be a wonderful, fun start to the rest of their lives.

Yes, it wasn’t a great day to decide to attack the Kyurangers, not at all...


End file.
